Dr Allen is a social work practitioner and academic with over 20 years of experience working to democratise child protection practice with Roma and Traveller families. he has published widely on this topic and presented his research on child protection practice with Romani and Traveller families to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the British Parliament, the Welsh Assembly as well as national and international conferences.

Dr Allen is registered with a professional regulatory body, Social Work England. He is an active member of the Romani and Traveller Social Work Community Interest Company and he is the Chair of the Association of Child Protection Professionals 'Working Together to Safeguard Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children: Special Interest Group'. In 2023, the paper that Dr. Allen wrote with a former dissertation student, Victoria Hamnett, won the annual 'Kay McDougall British Journal of Social Work Prize' for its breadth of scholarship, sophistication of theory, rigour, relevance and international appeal.

Dr Allen is thrilled to be part of CARE (Children and Adolescent Research Environment) at Ilisimatusarfik Grønlands Universitet. He looks forward to working alongside Associate Professor Bonnie Jensen and colleagues to examine the intersection of power relations, prejudice and reflexivity, and the impact of governmentality, subjectivities, and ethics on the translational positionality of professional conduct and decision-making. Developing a perspective that combines concepts of eco-social justice and community social work, Dr Allen also looks forward to critically examining discursive mechanisms and questions of why, how and so what in the context of dominant discourses affecting regimes of social work practice with children and adolescents at individual, cultural and societal levels.